It would be laughable were it not for the dire consequences such biased attacks have spawned in the past—attacks that include gunshots, arson, over 600 threats of violence and assassination. Even murder.
A 22-year-old Scientologist at the Church of Scientology Advanced Organization in Chatswood, near Sydney, died when he was stabbed in the neck by a deranged teenager. The assailant was incited by an anti-Scientology website that featured content similar to the current 60 Minutes Australia program.
Clearly Tara Brown’s new version of yellow journalism has serious implications.
The explosive growth of Scientology makes it a prominent target for those seeking to gain publicity and ratings. Over just the past few years, the Church of Scientology has opened over 20 new Churches, from Sydney, Perth and Auckland to Harlem, Stuttgart and Tokyo.
Yet rather than report on the positive work of the Church—fighting drug abuse, offering aid during natural disasters, and helping millions of people reach their full potential—60 Minutes chose to focus on lies from a small band of haters. It’s a pattern that repeats itself far too often.
And Brown couldn’t even develop a new approach to mask her bias and false reports. Instead, she dusted off the discredited attacks of these haters, packaged them with an Australian accent and proclaimed it to be “journalism.”
It’s a hoax.
The same ruse has been employed by Leah Remini for years. Feigning “concern” over the wife of the leader of the Scientology religion, Remini has been stalking her with repeated sham claims. Remini admitted in writing that in August 2013 she filed a “missing person” report on the leader’s wife with the Los Angeles Police Department. Remini carefully calculated that by taking such an outrageous action, she was ensuring that the Church would never accept her (Remini) back. Remini also admitted that she tried to conscript a personal friend in the LAPD to deliver a letter from her recommending to the leader’s wife that she leave her husband and her religion and go to Remini. An insane tactic.
The Los Angeles Police Department rejected her scheme, assigned the report to the correct department and investigated. It quickly concluded that the so-called missing person report was “unfounded.”
Now, five years later, Brown is taking a page from Remini’s playbook—stalking the Church leader’s wife and screaming for an interview with her, camera crew in tow. The whole scene is staged, a fraud on the viewers.
The same deceitful operation was used when Brown paid and enlisted Ron Miscavige, father of the Church leader. Forget that the only position Ron Miscavige ever held in the Church was trumpet player in a band. Forget that he had been estranged from his son for years. Forget his freely admitted history of violence against his wife and daughters. Still, Tara Brown somehow views Ron Miscavige as a “credible” source of insider information about the Scientology religion.
She put Ron Miscavige up at the Paramount Hotel and had him place a call to the nearby Church of Scientology New York, asking for his son. It was all a ruse. He and Brown both knew the Church leader does not work in the New York City Church and that he was in South Africa that very day presiding at the dedication of a stunning new Church of Scientology and continental headquarters.
But Brown got exactly what she wanted from that stunt: more fictional footage. And she paraded the same handful of talking heads that are rounded up for sound-bites-on-demand: Mike Rinder, Tony Ortega and their ilk. Church officials have provided Brown, Channel Nine, and 60 Minutes Australia with full documentation outlining the backgrounds of these people and their lies. Had Nine been interested in truth, they would have pulled the plug on this story before it began.
Brown used ambush interviews, bogus phone calls, drone and helicopter flights over Church facilities. She even trespassed on Church properties, with a camera crew, of course, to create the illusion of “news.”
Honest reporting and presenting truth has no part in the job description of Tara Brown or the mission of Channel Nine and 60 Minutes Australia. They find the best and most constructive people and institutions to denigrate, and then pass off fiction and salacious gossip as truth. They could not more clearly demonstrate their contempt for the subjects of their shows and for their viewing audience.
